Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa made a fresh proposal Wednesday to implement tax cuts of 1.5 trillion yen over a five-year period while simultaneously imposing tax hikes.
Shiokawa told a news conference that he made the proposal to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as the basis for further discussions on tax reforms.
In response, Koizumi said the matter should be discussed by the government's Tax Commission and the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy before releasing a final proposal in October, Shiokawa said.